RHCE 4 prep thoughts
 

I used references in this forum to help prepare for the RHCE RHEL4 exam, so thought I would write some thoughts on how I prepared for the exam. I passed the Exam comfortably and did all self study.

Predominantly I used two resource while preparing.

1) RHCE Study Guide by Michael Jang. (yes the RHEL3 one)
2) the SysAdmin guide and Reference guides from the RedHat documentation website.

While the Study Guide book specifically covers RHEL3, it provided a reference point for all the key topics to study. So I would read the chapter in the Study Guide and then read the corresponding sections in the RedHat documentation to ensure that I had all the current commands and references. There are some differences so this additional step is necessary.

Using this method I covered all the topics in the exam. I also knew all topics in more depth than was required.

Be sure to do ALL the exercises and labs in the book a couple of times, so you are at a point where you do not need to reference the book the chain of commands to complete a task.

For the troubleshooting section it requires a bit of effort.

Firstly get VMware and be prepared to break a number of installations (snapshots are great way of saving yourself time). In the Study guide book there is a page with a number of scenarios for the linux rescue environment. Try them all and also experiment with other possibilities (e.g delete key files, change boot settings etc.

This prepared me enough for the troubleshooting exam without the need of the RPMS mentioned about the place.

When you buy the book you get the CD, and on the CD is two practise exams. Do them both - they have good sections in them.

Using this method, with 8 weeks of hard study I prepared for the exam and passed it.

A few other things I did were:

Frequently interrupted the grub boot and manually typed in the "root=, kernel=, initrd=" commands so I knew the commands inside out.

Downloaded the Exam Prep guide and ticked off each section to ensure I covered everything.

Spent long session running different scenarios for the troubleshooting sections. For the RHCE you not only need to know about the boot but also services.

I hope this will help people out there and give you confidence that you do not need to spend the money on a course in order to pass.

Cheers

Thanks,

For your post. It will be really useful for newbies like me

Can you tell me some scripts which would mess up the system. (Which should be recoverable mess!) So that I could play around

I'll be taking RHCE in July. How do I turn myself from zero to hero?

Hi mervick,

All the best!

Keep playing around and do a lot of experiments and reading as well

hisir
how much industry expr u have in linux, bcoz that is the crux of any certification.
If u dont have industry expr then we should go for coaching.
iss'nt it ?

please describes user groups and other

Well I had some knowledge and it is my boss who sends me to take this exam. I felt great while terrified of it and don't really know what I should prepare and what I can expect from it.

Well, I don't really know how to explain user, groups and others but certainly if you ask me to restrict file access, passwords and shadow passwords, home directories with specific files, suid and guid stuffs, I definitely excel in practical.

Thanks everyone. Very helpful to know.

I have recently passed the RHCT, I went through the 4 day training then day 5 test day and passed. I was curious if the RHCE is on different material or the same in a more basic manner? I would like to take the RHCE also on my own.

Congrats on the RHCT!
When you take the RHCE you'll need to be able to do everything you just did to pass the RHCT AGAIN, and then some.

Take the RH253 class, and study your RH133 book that week too, so you are ready to go before you test!

Here's what you'll need to know:
https://www.redhat.com/training/rhce/examprep.html